Tomi, this is not cramps, this is physical pain. This feels like someone is ripping out the insides of my uterus. Cramps feel way different. The cramps come on day 4. Day 1 is painless, day 2 and 3 are agonizing - every footfall is felt in the uterus, running is agonizing and nearly impossible, day 4 is crampy. Day 5 back to normal.

She said at the start of our cycles, day 1 (the first day of our period) estrogen (illustrated in red) climbs til it peaks right before ovulation, then slowly falls til we get our period. Mine (illustrated in green) rises until ovulation, then starts to fall, but slowly and almost levels off, then plummets right before my period. This plummet is what is causing my pain.

She did not do tests, and rather went off of patient experience. She said it is very common for women between the ages of 30 and 35, especially those who have recently stopped using birth control and have lost a significant amount of weight. She said that estrogen is produced in fat cells (remember, belly fat rises estrogen levels causing estrogen dominance and is related to breast cancer?) and when you have fewer fat cells, you have less estrogen production. Hormonal birth control increases this already elevated estrogen. Stopping birth control while losing significant amounts of weight causes an estrogen plummet that the body has to adjust to. She said the steep drop that occurs in people in my situation right before their period makes the body think it's behind schedule so it tries to force the uterus empty to 'catch up'. She said women with this condition also report very heavy flows (remember me saying I soaked a super tampon and pad in 20 minutes while driving from home to the grocery store?) and experience clotting. I have both symptoms, but never thought much of them b/c they're pretty typical for me.

She said I can wait it out and allow the hormones to balance out on their own, which will eliminate the pain over a period of cycles, or I can take an anti-inflammatory that will thin the blood and allow it to expell more easily during the first few days of my period, or I can take a hormonal birth control for a short period to help thin the lining of the uterus and start over, essentially.

I am opting to wait it out and take an anti-inflammatory if necessary (prescription, of course).

My doctor is an osteopath so she understands my desires to remain drug free - she's the same way. She's had a cough for 2 weeks and refuses to take anything for it. She's also a Paleo/Zone eater and crossfitter. She's technically "one of us" but with medical qualifications. She understands, which is why she said I could wait it out. The most important thing to me is that she told me I don't have to worry about it b/c she's seen it many times before in women my age who have lost a lot of weight.

Re Boss: the biggest problem that comes with a scheduling error like this is that it makes him look like an idiot. He looks like an idiot to a GENERAL, the top of the food chain, and I am at fault b/c I didn't notice 16 instead of 15. I won't be fired for it and he's not a yeller, but trust is diminished b/c competence was not present - I lacked the competence to put a meeting on the right day on the calendar and now he looks like an idiot and essentially wasted tax payer money in the midst of a debt crisis... It's kind of a serious grievance, especially since the only reason he was going down there was to meet with said General. How stupid. These kinds of details are necessary, obviously, so he can be in the right place at the right time and I failed.

This has happened before, but here on Island, when something came to us with times in Eastern instead of Central and I failed to notice, so he was late. I need to make a more conscious effort to pay attention to details like that. The calendar, while it should be relatively simply in essence, is my biggest shortfall... It's definitely where I lack...

Eh, the real issue here is that they still fly people places. He needs to go to Texas? Please. He could email all necessary files and 'meet' with the General by VTC or webcam. The true waste of taxpayers money is that we still fly people anywhere for meetings.

You know, that was brought up and even the Deputy (civilian who is in charge of approving travel and verifying justification) argued with him on whether or not he really needed to go and whether this could be handled via email or telecon. He said something that convinced her b/c she's been denying travel for legitimate reasons time and again. Turns out, that b/c of the scheduling mishap, he's just going to email the General when he returns.

He went down in conjunction with a training program that our people provide that usually a General or someone else of importance sits in on, and as politics would have it, this usually requires the boss, as the Brigade Commander, to be present to dog and pony show the training... this time, no one of any importance was going to sit in on the training, so everyone argued that Boss didn't need to go, but Boss insisted. To make it worthwhile, we scheduled other office calls for today as well, so he did meet with people, but again, it could have been avoided.

Boss is in line to get his first Star in the next couple of years, so I'm pretty sure this trip was a political "get cozy with people" trip. He's one of "those" who thinks he's kind of above the rules. For instance, they recently implemented the "hibernation" mode on the computers. If you step away from the computer for a given amount of time (I think it's 30 minutes), it enters hibernation mode and that requires you to log in to both the bitlocker (hard-drive encrypter) and the system. He wants this shut off b/c he's a Brigade Commander and logging in all the time is a waste of time. He also always upgrades his rentals to a bigger model even though the regs clearly state compact/economy is what we're supposed to rent.

There are many IG complaint opportunities to be had, if one wanted to have one. I already feel alienated in this office, so I will continue to ignore the blatant misuse of power. He leaves in July so I'll have a new Colonel to get used to, which will be a greater worry, in my opinion.

I can't remember the dude's name but some 4 star recently got downgraded to a 2 star and 'encouraged' to retire due to overspending on travel - upgrading hotel rooms, rental cars etc. The Colonel might want to knock that shit off if he has half a brain.

I can't remember the dude's name but some 4 star recently got downgraded to a 2 star and 'encouraged' to retire due to overspending on travel - upgrading hotel rooms, rental cars etc. The Colonel might want to knock that shit off if he has half a brain.

I can't help but wonder what role the vitex has in all of this. Remember, there were two months where I didn't get a period, and if my body is trying to expell a thicker lining, maybe the vitex is to blame? But it helps my libido soooo much!

This month, for the first part of the month, I'll be taking 3 capsules a day, and after ovulation I'll drop to 2 (or maybe I should do 1 or none??). Just in the last week the 3 capsules have done amazing work on my sex drive. I actually propositioned Brad last night!! Can you believe it??

So, maybe I'll adjust course and do the 3 capsules until ovulation and then drop to zero until my period comes. Maybe that'll help get things purged... experiments - aren't they fun??

The vitex helped immensely with my period pains. I also had the feeling my,uterus was trying to get out e first day and couldn't get through the day without painkillers. Since taking the vitex the pain is gone! But it isn'y doing anything for my libido unfortunately